A groundbreaking new study suggests how the ancient inhabitants of Easter Island moved Moai, the giant stone statues that make the island famous. The study, published in Journal of Archaeological Science and conducted by an American group led by archaeologist Carl Lipo, is the result of a research and experimentation phase lasting over 12 years.
THE Moai of Easter Island, Chile, have always fascinated. These gigantic volcanic stone statues were created by the ancient Polynesian inhabitants of the island for ceremonial purposes, and today there are around a thousand of them, including those that are incomplete or destroyed. Over time, various theories about their transportation have been suggested, considering that some of these statues reach up to 10 meters in height and weigh tens of tons. Basically, it is believed that the statues were moved after quarrying on rollers or wooden sleds, in a lying position, and subsequently erected on site. In the video below you can see a simulation of how the procedure worked.
Carl Lipo’s theory instead suggests that in fact these statues, in a vertical position, were made to swing through a system of three ropes, giving the impression that the Moai “walked”, exactly as described in the ancient myths of Easter Island. The US study took into account 962 Moaiwhich were analyzed from a morphological point of view. Subsequently, through the creation of 3D models and the contribution of experimental archaeology, Lipo demonstrated how it was possible for a group of people equipped with ropes to make a “walk” Moai from the quarry to the ahuthe ceremonial stone platforms where the statues were placed, through a system of roads specially created to make vertical transport functional.
The movement would have been based on three teams. The ropes, tied around the head of the statue, would have been held by three groups of people: one, placed behind the statue, would have prevented the Moai could fall forward. According to Lipo, in fact, to facilitate movement in a vertical forward position, the statues would have been made in such a way as to be unbalanced in this direction, and a roped party was therefore necessary to avoid falling forward. The US study has in fact shown that the majority of Moai fallen and abandoned along the way they slipped in this way. The other two ropes, placed to the right and left of the statue, would have instead imparted an alternating oscillatory movement on the sides, which would have allowed the statue to “walk” one step at a time, taking advantage of the fact that the base of the Moai was convex in shape and the roads created for transport were concave, allowing a sliding that was not only functional, but according to Lipo convenient in terms of manpower compared to transport on rollers and sleds.
The three roped parties, allowing excellent control of the statue’s center of gravity, would have allowed the Moai to safely travel its way to the place where it would be fixed. In the experimental phase of 2012-2013, Lipo made use of 18 people (in three groups of six), who demonstrated that in this way the Moai (a 4.5 meter tall replica) could travel 100 meters in 40 minutes. The theory would also be supported by other elements, such as the distribution of the roads leading from the volcanic stone quarries in which the statues were made, and the signs of wear on the heads of the Moai, compatible with the friction of the ropes used to apply the oscillating movement and prevent the fall. In Lipo’s words:
By systematically evaluating the evidence, the successful transportation of the moai reveals a sophisticated understanding of physics and engineering among the ancient inhabitants of the island of Rapa Nui. Rather than requiring enormous amounts of manpower and environmental destruction, the transportation of the statues employed elegant mechanical principles, achieved through careful observation and innovative problem solving—a testament to Polynesian ingenuity that “walked” through history.
